Cromer Conservation Park

Our last park for the day was the Cromer Conservation Park, which is located about 7 km north of Birdwood, and about 7 km west of Mount Pleasant, in the Adelaide Hills.

I was running a bit behind schedule for this activation, as Marija and I had stayed a bit longer at Porter Scrub chatting to some of the locals. As I entered the park off Cromer Road, I saw a ladybird on the entry gate. I had read previously that ladybirds are reputed to bring you good luck. So this was a good start to the activation.

Cromer is a great park to activate from. Although there are plenty of trees to shelter underneath from the sun, there are also lots of open space areas for you to string out your dipole.

I set up the equipment about 50 feet in from the roadway, and for this activation I ran the Yaesu FT-450 again and 40 watts into the 40m/20m linked dipole.

Prior to calling CQ, I had a quick look around the band to see if I could track down VK1MA and VK3PF who I had heard from the mobile on the way to the park. I found Matt VK1MA on 7.105, who was portable on SOTA peak Baldy Range, VK2/ ST-008. I then spoke with Larry VK5LY who was portable in the Cooltong Conservation Park. Another park to park to add to the list. And finally, I found Peter VK3PF who was activating French Island National Park for the Keith Roget Memorial National Parks Award (KRMNPA) and World Wide Flora and Fauna (WWFF).

I then propped on 7.090 and called CQ and was immediately called by Mark VK1EM. This was followed by Tom VK5FTRG in the south east, and then David VK5NQP who was still portable in the Port Gawler Conservation Park.

After a few more VK1, VK3, & VK5 contacts, I was called by Peter VK3YE who was portable at Chelsea Beach, running one of his home brew QRP rigs and a wire antenna. Peter had a very nice steady 5/6 signal.

Again, as was the case with the previous 2 parks, there were some very strong signals. Pick of the bunch was Nigel VK5NIG (30/9), Darren VK5DT (40/9), and Kevin VK5KU (30/9). A few more QRP stations called in, including Col VK5HCF (5 watts), Joe VK3YSP (10 watts), and Julie VK3FOWL.

My last 2 contacts on 40m were with mobile stations. The first was with Peter VK2NEO who was mobile near Leeton. And the second was with Steve VK3SRB who was mobile in New South Wales on the Riverina Highway.

I had intended to activate 20m in the first 2 parks, but simply ran out of time. But when things slowed down on 40m, I lowered the antenna and took out the links in the dipole, and then raised the telescopic squid pole again. After numerous CQ calls I managed 4 contacts on 20m with Shayn VK7HWW, Michael VK1XYZ, Damon VK4HBT who was portable near Bundaberg, and Dom VK2SX who was also portable.

I was active in the park for an hour, and managed 26 contacts on 40m SSB and 4 contacts on 20m SSB. The following stations were worked on 40m SSB:-